1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving unit, and more particularly, to a receiving unit for a computer, which is installed to a computer main body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 1, a computer body 1 includes a body frame 3 on which hardware components such as a main board, a hard disk drive, etc., are mounted. The computer body 1 also includes an outer casing 4 to cover an outer part of the body frame 3, and to define an external appearance of the computer main body 1. The computer body 1 includes a front casing 5 to define a front shape of the computer main body 1, and formed with an opening 7 through which auxiliary storage units such as a compact disk drive, a floppy disk drive, etc. are exposed from an inside to an outer front face of the main body 1.
A body frame 3 has a space 6 to install a drive to mount an auxiliary storage unit therein (hereinafter referred to as a “bay”). Generally, one or more idle bays 6 are provided in the body frame 3 to allow a user to mount a storage unit, thereby increasing expandability of the auxiliary storage unit. The idle bay 6 is opened toward a front of the computer main body 1 through the opening 7 of the front casing 5. The idle bay 6 is covered with a bay cover 8 to cover the opening 7 of the front casing 5.
The idle bay 6 is advantageous in that it improves the expandability of the auxiliary storage unit, but yet disadvantageous in that it occupies an idle space within the computer main body 1, thereby enlarging overall dimensions of the computer main body 1. To solve the disadvantage, there has been developed a variety of methods to utilize the idle bay 6. For example, a receiving unit to receive items such as compact disks or floppy disks has been proposed.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a conventional receiving unit 200 includes a housing 110 installed to a computer body 1, to define an external appearance of the receiving unit 200, and a cassette 120 housed in the housing 110, to receive therein compact disks or floppy disks etc. The receiving unit 200 also includes a plate spring 160 to allow the cassette 120 to be elastically drawn according to a drawing direction, and a locking part 140 to lock the cassette 120 against an elasticity of the plate spring 160 at a position into which the cassette 120 is inserted.
The housing 110 has an approximately rectangular box shape with a hollow inside. The housing is formed with a receiving unit 114 therein in which the cassette 120 is received in a front thereof. On inner parts of both sides of the housing 110 are formed a plurality of screw threads with which screws (not shown) are engaged. The screws are inserted through a plurality of screw-passing holes 9 provided in both side walls of the body frame 3 constituting the bay 6, and through a plurality of screw holes 118 provided at predetermined intervals. The housing 110 is thereby mounted to the computer main body 1 ( see FIG. 1).
The cassette 120 is formed with a receiving space in which compact disks or floppy disks are kept. The front of the cassette 120 covers an opening of the housing 110 when the cassette 120 is inserted into the housing 110.
Between the housing 110 and the cassette 120 the plate spring 160 is provided to allow the cassette 120 to be elastically drawn according to the drawing direction. The cassette 120 is automatically drawn by the elasticity of the plate spring 160 when the cassette 120 is drawn from the housing 110.
Between the housing 110 and the cassette 120 is also installed the locking part 140 of a push-pull type to lock the cassette 120, which overcomes the elasticity of the plate spring 160 when the cassette 120 is received in the housing 110. A locking and unlocking process of the cassette 120 is alternately performed by an external force. If the front of the cassette 120 is pressed to an insertion direction of the cassette 120 when the locking part 140 is locked, the locking part 140 becomes unlocked, thereby allowing the cassette 120 to be automatically drawn from the housing 110 by the elasticity of the plate spring 160.
However, the conventional receiving unit 200 employs the push-pull type locking part 140, which lowers reliability on durability of the conventional receiving unit 200. Further, the conventional receiving unit 200 is inconvenient in that it requires instructions on operating the receiving unit 200 since it is different from a button-push type receiving unit of a compact disk drive that is typically installed on a bay.
Further, a drawing speed of the cassette 120 due to the elasticity of the plate spring 160 cannot be controlled. Thus, the drawing speed becomes different depending on whether articles are received in the cassette 120. More specifically, since the inner part of the cassette 120 is hollow, the receiving unit 200 may have problems because of the drawing of the cassette 120 at a high speed.